Box Score For Immediate Release - 9/11/2016
Lynchburg, VA -- Lynchburg Men's Soccer won a gritty game against Greensboro College on Sunday afternoon, 3-1. After each team exchanged pleasantries through the first 30 minutes, senior Ben Grossfuss watched a long shot attempt go off the hands of Greensboro keeper, Jaime Payamps, when the Sanford, NC native headed in the rebound for his first goal of the season. Grossfuss, who admits that he struggled to find the back of the net a season ago, said, "It's real nice to get it out of the way early and not be frustrated for the first half of the season like last year."
The other storyline in this game dealt with the men in yellow jerseys and carrying flags, the officials. Two yellow cards were shown in the first half, one each for Lynchburg and Greensboro. Little did the 200 plus fans at Shellenberger Field know that that was the tip of the iceberg.
The second half started with Lynchburg leading 1-0. That would change in the 61st minute when Cameron Noonan sent in a free kick from just inside midfield that sailed over everyone's head deep into the box, except for Jack Ashby. The freshman kept the ball in play hugging the right goal post, kicking it backward with his left foot to the middle where a surprised Ben Grossfuss benefited from another tremendous feed for goal number 2. Ashby tallied his first point as a Lynchburg Hornet, extending the lead to 2-0.
With just under 15 minutes to go, Dylan McLaurin saw the first ball of the season get by him, spoiling another shutout for the Hornets. Carlos Barragan netted his second goal of the season for The Pride on a bouncing ball that found its way to the middle of the box where Barragan did his best "crane kick" as the ball snuck past a diving McLaurin, making it 2-1.
That is when everyone in attendance started to see yellow, a lot. In the next ten and a half minutes, five yellow cards were given, three for the Hornets and two for The Pride. In total there were seven yellow cards dished out to go along with 31 fouls. "It's a shame...I would have loved to see the two of us [Greensboro] just play rather than have to worry about the official", stated Head Coach Chris Yeager when asked about staying composed, "I don't blame anything on Greensboro or our guys, it was mainly the officiating."
Right in the middle of the card parade, the Hornets picked up a much-needed insurance goal from Fredy Flores in the 80th minute. Senior Thomas Salamone started from lane eight of the track and threw a ball in from the near side of the field that the junior from Alexandria was able to get a piece of with his head, tallying his second goal of the season. Flores has six points total, which is tied for first on the team.
When asked what his team is doing well, Coach Yeager says, "Well we're scoring goals, which always helps", he added, "we're getting them from different guys, that's what's going to be important…everybody is scoring."
The Shellenberger Classic All-Tournament Team was announced Sunday evening as well. Here are the honorees.
Lynchburg is 3-0-1 on the season and gets ready to travel south to play two games in Georgia next weekend. First they'll stop at Oglethorpe University on Friday night, then at Berry College Saturday afternoon.
For the complete schedule, results, interviews and highlights, bookmark lynchburgsports.com
